Why liberals must stand with Kathleen Stock

I know what it feels like to be bullied and vilified for expressing views with which, eventually, many right-minded people end up agreeing. I am talking, of course, about transgender ideology and the case of Professor Kathleen Stock which this week was belatedly picked up by the mainstream press.

In short, a group of University of Sussex students started a campaign for Stock to be sacked on the spot, claiming she was ‘espousing a bastardised version of radical feminism that excludes and endangers trans people’. The group – a collection of poundshop Antifas – said Stock was a danger to transgender people, arguing: ‘We’re not up for debate. We cannot be reasoned out of existence.’ The leaflet accompanying the stickers and ‘Stock Out’ flag decorated with blue smoke reads: ‘Fire Kathleen Stock. Otherwise you’ll see us around.’

In response, her own union branch threw Stock under the bus. On Tuesday, UCU Sussex – which is meant to protect its employees – released a statement that failed to condone the bullying and intimidation she has faced, and instead called for an investigation into ‘institutional transphobia’.